If we are what we eat, then we might expect children who eat a lot of candy to be sweet and lovable. Quite the opposite, according to recent research. Authors of a study published in a recent issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry claim that children who eat a lot of confectionery treats are more likely to be violent adults.

The British researchers followed more than 17,000 British children born in 1970 for almost 4 decades. More than two-thirds (69%) of the children arrested for violent behavior by age 34 ate candy daily at age 10. Read more →

While illicit drug use in the United States is certainly a public health concern, the increasing use of legal, over-the-counter (OTC) drugs for non-medical use is alarming. The most recent data available from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that 3.1 million people aged 12 to 25 years had used an OTC drug to get high. Dextromethorphan (DXM) — a cough suppressant available in nearly 150 OTC products — is the biggest target of misuse. Now, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) is voluntarily placing warning labels on DXM-containing products to caution buyers about teen medicine abuse. Read more →

Welcome to the fifteenth edition of Drugs and Pharmacology. Today, we discuss new the introduction of the recovery bill of rights, a case of alleged supplement contamination, whether a memory pill is on the horizon, and why medical professionals aren’t so fond of Xanax.

Remember, we review the latest blogs related to drugs — medicinal, recreational, interactional, personal, professional, or any other aspect. If you were left out in this round, just leave a comment with your blog entry. You can check out the archives for every edition of this carnival. Read more →

Refined sugars have only relatively recently appeared in the diets of most people. Regulatory pathways that balance calorie intake and energy expenditure and reward pathways help the body regulate ingestion of these sweeteners, as well as other foods. The overconsumption of refined sugars, including sucrose and fructose, in beverages and prepared foods, undoubtedly contributes to the obesity epidemic that is escalating in the United States and throughout other industrialized countries around the world. Obesity is also linked to inactivity, economic considerations, and the ready availability of food, but is the real problem that these sweeteners act like a drug, leading to a cycle of food use and reward and addiction? Read more →

I always find epidemiological studies very interesting because they can give you a snapshot of the prevalence of certain conditions. Have you ever wondered about the prevalence of psychiatric conditions and alcohol use disorders among college students? This is a topic that has been studied extensively by many different research groups.

Recently, an article was published about this topic by a group of researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and it caught my attention. According to a series of over 40,0000 interviews conducted in the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), almost half of college-aged individuals had a psychiatric disorder in the past year. What was very interesting about this survey was that college students had a greater risk of alcohol use disorder compared to non-college students in the same age group. Read more →

Welcome to the twelfth edition of Drugs and Pharmacology. Today, we discuss the problems that ensue when we don’t employ electronic prescription systems, the dangers of antibiotics, how to detect teenage cold medicine abuse, and other topics.

Remember, we review the latest blogs related to drugs — medicinal, recreational, interactional, personal, professional, or any other aspects. If you were left out in this round, just leave a comment with your blog entry. You can check out the archives for every edition of this carnival. Read more →